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Julian of Norwich and the Mystical Body Politic of Christ provides a close and historically sensitive reading of Julian's Revelation of Love that addresses the question of the relationship between our understanding of God and our vision of human community. By examining Julian's images of Christ's body, this book seeks to discern the "political" meaning of her theology. Locating these images within the context of late medieval debates over the nature and extent of divine power, the book argues that Julian presents an alternative account of divine power in which the crucified body of Christ becomes the focus and shape of divine omnipotence. This account of divine power serves as the norm of all human exercise of power, rendering the possibility of the "mystical body politic of Christ" as the exemplary form of human community. In this reading, the theological is irreducibly political and the political is irreducibly theological. As such, Julian is presented as both a theologian of the first rank and one who "imagines the political."
Julian of Norwich wrote A Revelation of Love, a short text which shows the immediacy of her experience, and a long text which shows 20 years of reflection. This book offers a reading of these texts and addresses the relationship between the understanding of God and her vision of human community.
Julian of Norwich was a fourteenth-century woman who at the age of thirty had a series of vivid visions centred around the crucified Christ. Twenty years later, while living as an anchoress in a church, she is believed to have set out these visions in a text called the Showing of Love. Going against the current trend to place Julian in the category of mystic - a classification which defines her visions as deeply private, psychological events - this book sets Julian’s thinking in the context of a visionary project used to instruct the Christian community. Drawing on recent developments in philosophy that debate the objectivity and rationality of vision and perception, Kevin J. Magill gives full attention to the depth and richness of the visual language and modes of perception in the Showing of Love. In particular, the book focuses on the ways in which Julian presented her vision to the Christian society around her, demonstrating the educative potential of interaction between the ‘isolated’ anchoress and the wider community. Challenging Julian’s identification as a mystic and solitary female writer, this book argues that Julian engaged in a variety of educative methods – oral, visual, conversational, mnemonic, alliterative – that extend the usefulness of her text.
Julian of Norwich (ca. 1343&–ca. 1416), a contemporary of Geoffrey Chaucer, William Langland, and John Wyclif, is the earliest woman writer of English we know about. Although she described herself as &“a simple creature unlettered,&” Julian is now widely recognized as one of the great speculative theologians of the Middle Ages, whose thinking about God as love has made a permanent contribution to the tradition of Christian belief. Despite her recent popularity, however, Julian is usually read only in translation and often in extracts rather than as a whole. This book presents a much-needed new edition of Julian&’s writings in Middle English, one that makes possible the serious reading and study of her thought not just for students and scholars of Middle English but also for those with little or no previous experience with the language. &• Separate texts of both Julian&’s works, A Vision Showed to a Devout Woman and A Revelation of Love, with modern punctuation and paragraphing and partly regularized spelling. &• A second, analytic edition of A Vision printed underneath the text of A Revelation to show what was left out, changed, or added as Julian expanded the earlier work into the later one. &• Facing-page explanatory notes, with translations of difficult words and phrases, cross-references to other parts of the text, and citations of biblical and other sources. &• A thoroughly accessible introduction to Julian&’s life and writings. &• An appendix of medieval and early modern records relating to Julian and her writings. &• An analytic bibliography of editions, translations, scholarly studies, and other works. The most distinctive feature of this volume is the editors&’ approach to the manuscripts. Middle English editions habitually retain original spellings of their base manuscript intact and only emend that manuscript when its readings make no sense. At once more interventionist and more speculative, this edition synthesizes readings from all the surviving manuscripts, with careful justification of each choice involved in this process. For readers who are not concerned with textual matters, the result will be a more readable and satisfying text. For Middle English scholars, the edition is intended both as a hypothesis and as a challenge to the assumptions the field brings to the business of editing.
A noted scholar examines the work of the English mystic Julian of Norwich Julian of Norwich is the late fourteenth-century and early fifteenth-century English woman theologian. With her mystical writings, she has become one of the most popular and influential spiritual figures of our times. In Julian of Norwich: In God's Sight, the eminent scholar Philip Sheldrake offers a study of the theology that Julian expresses in her writings. The author examines what is known about Julian’s mystical experience or mystical consciousness, discusses what can be surmised about Julian’s likely identity and places her writings in historical, cultural and spiritual contexts. Julian of Norwich: In God's Sight is based on a faithful reading of Julian’s texts, especially the Long Text, as well as on her own declared theological-spiritual purpose. This compelling book: Presents a contextually-grounded and text-related study of the key elements of Julian’s theology Offers a scholarly work by a well-known expert in the field Unlocks an ever-richer understanding of Julian’s writings Includes an examination of the key texts attributed to Julian Written for students of theology and those interested in learning more about this popular mystic, Julian of Norwich: In God's Sight offers ascholarly review of Julian’s most important writings.
Over six hundred years ago a woman known as Julian of Norwich wrote what is now regarded as one of the greatest works of literature in English. Based on a sequence of mystical visions she received in 1373, her book is called Revelations of Divine Love. Julian lived through an age of political and religious turmoil, as well as through the misery of the Black Death, and her writing engages with timeless questions about life, love and the meaning of suffering. But who was Julian of Norwich? And what can she teach us today? Medievalist and TV historian Janina Ramirez invites you to join her in exploring Julian’s remarkable life and times, offering insights into how and why her writing has survived, and what we can learn from this fourteenth-century mystic whose work lay hidden in the shadows of her male contemporaries for far too long.
For centuries readers have comfortably accepted Julian of Norwich as simply a mystic. In this astute book, Denys Turner offers a new interpretation of Julian and the significance of her work. Turner argues that this fourteenth-century thinker's sophisticated approach to theological questions places her legitimately within the pantheon of other great medieval theologians, including Thomas Aquinas, Bernard of Clairvaux, and Bonaventure.Julian wrote but one work in two versions, a Short Text recording the series of visions of Jesus Christ she experienced while suffering a near-fatal illness, and a much expanded Long Text exploring the theological meaning of the "showings" some twenty years later. Turner addresses the apparent conflict between the two sources of Julian's theology: on the one hand, her personal revelation of God's omnipotent love, and on the other, the Church's teachings on and her own witnessing of evil in the world that deserves punishment, even eternal punishment. Offering a fresh and elegant account of Julian's response to this conflict--one that reveals its nuances, systematic character, and originality--this book marks a new stage in the century-long rediscovery of one of the English language's greatest theological thinkers.
Julian of Norwich, an anchoress of the fourteenth century, has captured the imagination of our time in a remarkable way. She shares with her readers the deepest and most intimate experiences of her life through her writings.This detailed study of Julian attempts not only to penetrate her theological ideas but also brings to life her world and her life as an anchoress. Grace Jantzen has more than an academic interest in Julian's writings and sets out to integrate scholarly findings with contemporary spirituality. There is much in the thought of this extraordinary woman mystic which is excitingly relevant; her insights into spiritual growth and wholeness foreshadow the modern interest in psychotherapy and her image of Christ as mother has resounding implications for Christian feminist theology.In a new introduction to this edition, the author explores what it might mean to be an anchoress in post modernity, and how reflections on Julian of Norwich and her desire for God can enable us to become the space of divine transformation.This is a book not only for those who have a scholarly interest in Julian, but also for anyone drawn to Christian mysticism and the place of women within that tradition.Julian of Norwich, an anchoress of the fourteenth century, has captured the imagination of our time in a remarkable way. She shares with her readers the deepest and most intimate experiences of her life through her writings.
Julian of Norwich's Revelations of Divine Love grapples with the same fundamental question that has vexed philosophers and theologians since the advent of monotheistic religion, and continues as a barrier to belief for many today. Namely, if God is so good, how can natural disaster, genocide, trauma - and my present suffering - occur? Historically, there have been two apparently very different approaches to the problem: the pastoral, or practical, on the one hand and the systematic on the other. However, Richard Norton suggests that these two lines of thought may not be as separate as they seem, and may indeed be dependent on one another for their cohesion. Drawing on Julian's medieval experience of personal and population-wide suffering, alongside that of more recent theologians such as Dorothy Solle and Jurgen Moltmann, Norton constructs a compassionate model of theodicy that can be of use to both pastoral and systematic theologians. Throughout, he remains sensitive to the raw atrocity of evil, while preserving a vision of God as the one who ensures that all shall be well.
Offers a Christian proposal for radical social transformation. / Daniel Izuzquiza here proposes a vibrant interdisciplinary theology from the unique perspective of the "least of these" the poor and extends an invitation to mystical, political, and ecclesial engagement. / In Rooted in Jesus Christ Izuzquiza analyzes the language of theology, the role of social sciences, the transformation of culture, and the church s approach to politics. To that end he dialogues with some of the main theological proposals of the late twentieth century, from Latin American liberation theology to radical theology in the English-speaking world to European political theology. He also offers a more systematic development of radical ecclesiology, analyzing the sources of the proposal as alternative Christian practices. The result is a groundbreaking call to action and change for the entire church. / In this groundbreaking book Daniel Izuzquiza offers a vibrant Christian proposal for radical social transformation. His wide-ranging study explores the relationship between church and society by dialoguing critically and constructively with major theological currents of our day. Izuzquiza s interdisciplinary theology from the perspective of the poor is truly radical at once in a political, ecclesial, and mystical sense. / We need a way forward beyond our well-worn and tired debates. Daniel Izuzquiza offers just that. His splendid book engages and assesses postliberalism, radical orthodoxy, Anabaptist witness, liberation theology, and the role of the Jesuits in Christianity in order to show the need for a radical ecclesiology that is unapologetically Christocentric, socially attuned, and ecumenically generous. For anyone not invested in the current structures of power in the church, university, or nation-state, this book offers wisdom. For those of us so invested, this book shows a viable alternative preserving the good and challenging the rest. We should all pay attention. D. Stephen Long / author of Speaking of God: Theology, Language, and Truth / I am happy to recommend Daniel Izuzquiza s Rooted in Jesus Christ: Toward a Radical Ecclesiology to serious readers in the English-speaking world who may have dared to wonder if the traditional church of our time is what Jesus really had in mind. And if not, what might a church rooted in the Christ of the Incarnation look like? . . . Rather than superficially inspiring his readers, Izuzquiza brings us face-to-face with what the body of Christ could be by responding more fully to the truly amazing grace of God that has come to us in Jesus of Nazareth. Traditional Catholics and conservative Protestants alike as well as revolutionaries and political activists for that matter will be confronted and challenged here. . . . And, rather than concerning ourselves so exclusively with tactics and strategies, Izuzquiza reminds us of the importance of simply being the church, radically rooted in Jesus Christ. John Driver / author of Radical Faith: An Alternative History of the Christian Church